As I stretched the strand of barbwire to step over the fence, I stared down at a newborn fawn curled up next to a tree just beneath me. The fawn was all of a day or two old and its mother was probably watching me. The cycle of life for wildlife is being witnessed for all those who have reached beyond the pavement.

Landowners who are serious about improving their wildlife habitat have probably already conducted controlled burns on a segment or two of their property back in February or March. Controlled burning is a sought after practice of forest regeneration and it provides succulent forage for lots of wildlife.

Clover food plots were fertilized and later mowed while this perennial plant regenerates itself with very little annual maintenance. Clover is a universal crop because it is relatively easily established and does well in most soil types. A typical planting of clover will last approximately 3-5 years, unlike annuals like wheat or oats that will provide forage for only one season.

Many winter food plots were disked and replanted with soybeans or corn, especially for the private landowners that were serious about providing nutrition for their wildlife. Soybeans provide a high level of protein as the seeds begin to sprout. Typically, the challenge i having enough acreage to get a stand of soybeans before the deer mow them down.

Corn pays dividends later in the fall and can provide a great source of high-energy carbohydrates during the winter months when they are needed the most. Deer will eat the green stalks and leaves as it matures. But if acreage is sufficient, you hope to get a stand of corn to feed your wildlife.

Many landowners spend the summer months mowing pastures, cleaning up roads and paths, setting trail cameras to monitor fawning and deer activity, and preparing for the upcoming fall season. While Arkansas summers can be dreadfully hot, we’ve yet to enter that phase of summer and activity will slow down dramatically as the temperatures near triple digits.

Watching a hen turkey shuffle her brood of poults across a pasture opening can be a great feeling for any avid hunter who cares about the population of turkeys on their hunting grounds, whether public or private. Mother Nature is very cruel and the chances that all those poults make it to maturity are slim, but she’ll see that some do make it to give us hunters a thrill in a couple of years.

Checking game trail cameras this time of year can be very rewarding as you watch a buck’s antlers grow week by week. A buck’s antlers are one of the fastest growing living organisms known to man, and can grow up to one inch per day. Monitoring a buck’s antler growth is a rare opportunity and can be addictive. This is one of the reasons hunters can become intimately familiar with deer on a certain piece of property. If a deer develops into a ‘shooter’ before your eyes, it takes on a special meaning and identifying this deer as one of the deer you’d like to kill this fall is where the challenge begins.

While summertime is typically a time to fish, many avid deer hunters are laying the groundwork for their upcoming deer season and working on improving the land by implementing solid land and wildlife habitat enhancement practices. After all, deer season in Arkansas begins a couple weeks early this year, Sept. 15. Here’s hoping for a record cold front to blow through our state in mid-September.